U.K. Judge Urges Self-Regulation of British Press

11/29/2012 9:40AM

A U.K. judge recommends the British print press to institute 'self regulation' in the wake of last year's phone-hacking scandal. WSJ London bureau chief Bruce Orwall reports on the News Hub. Photo: Getty Images.

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

... the the ... getting back to the breaking news we had the Yule ball to go in the wake of the phone hacking scandal a British judge has now issued his much awaited report on how to rein in England Media Bruce Orwall our London bureau chief now he's joining us with deatails brisk morning ... hey I got an upgrade so were talk about the report from the Lord Justice of Appeal Brian Levis and what what are the highlights ... we are DDS this is that the long standing at this time TV and Internet series here in which ... I'm a judge ... basically held a lot of hearings ... looking at misbehavior by the press in the wake of the phone hacking scandal that engulfed News corp last year ... the real question here is is he can recommend some store about ... new system of regulation for the press in the in the UK ... I there were two camps here basically one of which ... like victims of phone hacking like Hugh Grant and others who were calling for ... you know some sort of a law that would ... create a regulatory scheme that forced the British press that the cave ... of course in newspapers hate that I didn't think that that interim result and ... no government control the media so ... I just love the same in his report two thousand pages long which was just released ... seems to be kind of navigating ... slightly down the middle there trying to find a compromise he's ... basically calling for a new ... body of what he calls self regulation in which you would have ... our voluntary independent self organize regulatory system put into place ... but he wants to create that when I'm you know what the law that puts in place and and creates all the mechanics for itself ... probably something that the British ... newspaper companies are not to be wild about ... whether it's something they can live with is that is another question well son it's all free tuition sounds ... a lot better than ... it did what what might have come down of course right ... well of course self regulation has failed here in the past and that's been part of the problem first and the ... Press complaints Commission here since nineteen ninety one ... that tack clearly has is not a good job and that's reflected in ... Levinsohn's report which also serves as a ... high of two thousand page critique of the way the British media has operated ... by and he says basically that they acted as if their own code which they wrote didn't exist in that wreak havoc with people's lives ... I we heard a lot of testimony over and over the course of the ... three months of hearings hear from people who ... head to toe felt that they had been invaded by the media and ... scurrilous ways over time so ... I'm ... you know the results to a lot of a lot of criticism for NewsCorp n the news of the World newspaper here which was close last year ... I which ... I love this and takes to task severely but he also says ... that he doesn't think that ... that was the only misbehavior in the in the British press in that there were many other things a mess ... okay I'm ... impressed by the way you get when I re read we should mention that that ... NewsCorp of course owns The Wall Street Journal ... with every revelations Amenas was public he's still a lot of these interviews that went into building this report the withering revelations ... about news organizations in Bedford it NewsCorp in particular ... well there been any revelations all on the way whether they're additional ... revelations packed into this ... two thousand pages which ... landed on as ten minutes ago ... remains to be seen yet readily aam ... but ... that that's that's my weekend reading it but I'm ... but you know they're there we did see weak without a lot of like unflattering snapshots of the way ... not just the way the British media operates and the tactics and its use the time but also ... its relationships with politicians and ... you know and the police the police are going to come in for some Chris's them here for their ... fear for their own failings in the phone hacking thing they are going to get out ... I'm ... you know some rebuke in this report and so are some members of the political establishment took a ... bizarre all thanks so much for joining us from London this morning ...